The Beginning of an End
by whitewheatrye
Summary: Carlisle tells of the time when he met Elizabeth Masen and decided to change Edward. Sorry summary, but it's much better than it looks.


Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. She also owns New Moon. She also owns Edward Cullen. She owns the whole world!

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The Beginning of an End

I walked through the Chicago hospital, frustrated. I chose to be a doctor in order to save people, save myself from feeling guilty at my half-life. Influenza was killing people left and right and I couldn't do anything about it. I hated how powerless I felt. The only way I could save someone was… no. I wouldn't steal someone's humanity because of a simple, deadly virus. That reminded me…

The discouragement of not being able to rescue anyone wasn't my only dilemma. I was looking for a companion. But I couldn't bear taking away someone's life because of my own selfishness. I was horrible enough; to destroy someone for my own benefit would only prove how evil I was.

"Dr. Cullen?" An exhausted young nurse interrupted my thoughts. "You have three new patients today." She left after handing me a thick manila folder. I sighed, opened it, and ran a hand through my thick golden hair.

I walked into a room with an index card that said "Masen" on the door. Three people occupied the room- a man, a woman, and a young man, most likely their son. The man was already unconscious. His chart said his name was Edward Masen Sr., and he would not wake up again. Like many before him, there was nothing I could do to save him. The woman, with bronze hair and alarming green eyes, was very alert, unusual for the stage of her illness. Their son, Edward Jr., had his mother Elizabeth's bronze hair and green eyes. He was sicker than his mother was, and I prayed for both to get better. Unfortunately, though, it was not to be.

The next day I came into the room and saw that the father was gone. I looked at the woman's chart and shook my head. Death would inevitably take her today.

"Doctor?" Elizabeth looked at me with wide, worried eyes. She was sitting next to Edward's bed, fluttering around, and putting wet washcloths on his head, trying to calm her precious boy.

"You should get back into bed," I told her, frowning. Getting up and trying to nurse her son would only make her sicker. I left the room after making sure she had returned to bed, and couldn't help but admire their mother-son relationship. It was obvious how much Elizabeth cared about her son, and I respected her devotion.

That evening, I returned to the Masens' room. I wasn't usually this attached to my patients, but Elizabeth seemed like a special case. I groaned inwardly when I saw her condition- her fever was over 110 degrees and she was probably going to die within the hour.

"Doctor!" I looked up from the folder, startled, and saw her watching me anxiously from her corner. "Save him!" she ordered with all the authority she had left.

"I'll do everything in my power," I told her, knowing as I said it how futile it was. I held her hand, and looked into her green eyes.

"You must!" she commanded me. "You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward."

For an instant, I was sure she knew. However, she said nothing else, so I merely kept holding her hand until it grew limp and cold. After pulling the sheet over her head and recording the time, I walked over to Edward. I had been thinking about his mother's words for the past hour, yet I was still undecided. If I honored her wishes, then I would be unleashing the monster inside of me that I had sworn to never show. It was why I chose the life I did, why I only hunted animals, and why I was so reluctant to create a companion. If I bit him, the vampire part of me could take over, and might kill him instead.

I had never tasted human blood, but I knew how much more potent it was than animals'. If I ended up killing Edward, then that act alone would certainly damn me to Hell forever. Knowing that might happen, this was something that I knew I wouldn't be brave enough to do. But if I didn't, I knew Elizabeth's words would haunt me throughout the rest of my pitiful existence.

Edward lay on his cot, so close to death. I looked at his face, so pure, so beautiful, and so perfect; the face of the son I had always wanted. In that moment, I made my decision.

After taking Elizabeth to the morgue, I sat next to her for a minute. "I will," I whispered in her ear, and amazingly, her anxious face took on an almost content expression. I left quickly, hoping I would have enough control to go through with the dreadful bite.

I took Edward out the back door of the hospital – no one would notice; there were too many patients coming in it was impossible to keep track of every one of them. I quickly carried the feverish boy across the rooftops to my home and laid him on my unused dining table.

I really had no idea how to create a vampire, my only experience being my own. The only reasonable process I came up with was recreating the wounds that I had received in London so many centuries ago.

I debated whether or not to go hunting first, but time was of the essence now. I could see him drawing closer and closer to death each moment. I pulled his sleeve up slightly to reveal his shoulder, checked myself, and bit, hoping this was a decision I would not regret.


End file.
